Zombie Cliche Lookout: Zombie Combat Strategy
They say that no plan survives contact with the enemy, and while that will probably hold true when it comes to combating zombies, the zeds do give you a couple of advantages. Zombies, after all, aren’t exactly known for thinking things through. They see potential food, they pursue potential food, and then they either catch the potential food, or they don’t. Rinse. Repeat. You’re not dealing with Rommel here.
That said, this single-mindedness can be an advantage. After all, how often do characters in zombie fiction completely underestimate the zombies, and then promptly get eaten? Lots, that’s how many. And, even when the zombies aren’t underestimated, they can still surprise people in a number of ways. My favorite is the zombie without working legs who goes unnoticed as it slowly crawls toward its victim.
About this Episode:
Stewart is only 16 years old. That’s a fact that came as a surprise to a lot of readers, and with good reason. After all, LEGO® minifigs come in basically two sizes: regular, and small. As a sixteen year-old, he shouldn’t have used the half-height legs (plus I hate that they aren’t articulated), so my options were pretty limited. Here, we’re seeing him without his hat, and I must say I’m not so sure of my hair choice anymore; I think it kind of makes him look older than he should be.
Discussion Question: Zombie Combat
Okay armchair generals, this one’s for you: what’s your sure-fire zombie combat strategy? Of course, this wouldn’t be fun if we didn’t set at least a few ground rules. After all, if you have thousands of troops in bite-proof armor, endless tanks, etc. it’s just not very interesting. So in this case, you’re on your own, and you only have access to improvised weapons. No guns.
Good luck.
Typo alert, Zombie Cliche Lookout, second paragraph, second sentence: “promptly gets eaten” gets–>get 😀
Same section, same paragraph, fourth sentence, after the comma: “when they zombies” they–>the 😉
About This Episode, fifth sentence: “without is hat” is–>his 😀
I wonder if Dave’s daughter is helping him again? Some of these typos seem like someone very young wrote them! 😀
Fixed all, thank you!
And, sadly, I can’t even blame my daughter for all the typos this time.
I don’t think Stewart’s hair style is at all out of place, he’s a teenager and tan hair is simply a way of saying that he got a rare roll in the dice when it came to picking his genetic hair color. Whilst rare, tan hair colors are becoming more commonplace, and simply because someone has tan hair doesn’t necessarily imply age at all. It might imply that he doesn’t comb it as much as he should. If that’s what’s bothering you, perhaps you should just have him run a brush of some sort through it later, and substitute a more appropriate tan hairpiece for him that way.
I know that some dark-skinned races are getting hair color variations, so it’s not just that Stewart is lucky, it’s a genetic variation that becomes more commonplace over time. I’ve seen a few tan dark-skinned people in my area and they seem to be quite okay looking, and they are also teenagers themselves. So more variation in hair styles and colors isn’t really something that would bother me a lot, it would mean instead that the character has some depth to them. 😀
I think it’s the hair style in combination with the glasses that makes him look older. Maybe I will have him brush it at some point. Or maybe I’m just looking into it too much.
I think what you should be looking into is the BrickLink catalog. Check out new heads that might be suitable for Stewart, and even get yourself some feedback from us on the use of them if you’re not sure or want suggestions! 😀
I am always, ALWAYS, open for suggestions. Send me links and part numbers!
By the way, you kind of painted yourself into a corner when I asked about his glasses, and said they were for a special eye condition, that they were prescription. Since you don’t seem to have told any of the characters this yet, you can always change your mind and either do new glasses or make Stewart wear contacts! 😀
Yeah, this was originally going to be a plot point earlier in the comic, but I ended up changing things so that it never happened. Yeah, I could lose the glasses, now that you mention it.
Also, regarding zombies being an enemy: They’re not a normal kind of enemy, they can’t read your plans that fell into their hands, and they’d probably chew holes in them if they somehow figured out that one’s plans had some sort of food value to them, but otherwise, there’s a low probability that they would stomp them into the ground if enough of them walked over them on their way to their victims. 😀
Hah, well said BrickVoid.
Lastly, I have a question: Why does Stewart turn away from Brent when expressing his feelings? I don’t know if Brent would care much, but turning your back on someone you’re addressing is outright disrespectful behavior, IMHO.
Good question. What I was thinking is that Stewart is really struggling with this, and actually looking at Brent is making is harder, so he looks away and says his piece without seeing how it affects the person he’s talking to. I actually see people do this quite a bit.
”Neither did I, little man.”
Stewart becomes significantly smaller in the 4th frame 😀
Hah, he certainly does.
A Shrink Ray?
I could use one of those.
FLASHBACK! Ben vs Harry in NOTLD (1968). Defend the first floor (more potential entry points for zombies but also possible escape routes) or the basement (only one entry point but NO escape routes) In my humble opinion they were both wrong, I think that the best bet would have been to move upstairs and defend the 2nd floor. Think like the Spartans at Thermopylae (the real ones not that stupid movie) I want my enemies to have only one very narrow approach, preferably uphill. Because they are dead and stupid they will fall all over themselves trying to get to you making them easier to dispatch with a club or the like. As they fall their bodies present new obstacles to the upcoming attackers. A 2nd floor of a building or house would work well, or possible a long corridor or narrow blind alley. I like the 2nd story of a house idea simply because I might be able to make an escape though a 2nd floor window if needed by jumping to a nervy tree or making a rope out of something handy.
I couldn’t agree more, Damage. I’ve always thought that they should have boarded up the first floor as best as possible, as they did in the movie. They then defend the first floor for as long as they can, but once they start getting overwhelmed, withdraw upstairs and use the stairs as a chokepoint.
This would have bought them a lot of time; more than enough time in my mind. As we’ve seen, all they really needed to do is survive the night until the militia showed up.
I think this comes down to 4 things.
1)what do you have around you in your area
2)how far out of the box are you willing to think
3) Time
4) people that are trained or skilled
Example: a gated community could take apart some of the cars to reinforce the gates, and learn how to farm from an abdandon herb garden, but if parts of the gate are falling off, those parts could make great spears. Spears are some what simple weapons most people can understand how to use.
An easier way to say it is you could become fate sealed by your environment.
Btw steward looks 90% like a high school I knew, 2 big differences are platinum colored hair, and the glasses.
*High school kid, sorry!
Sounds like I’m doing a better job on Stewart than I gave myself credit for.
By the way, I really like your line of thinking about reusing different things that people have available to them.
For what its worth, Stewart reminds me a lot of my 15year old nephew. Same glasses, same hair, same know it all attitude.
Nailed it!
My finest anti zombie weapon would be an oversized ice pick. It won’t stick, no ammo and easy to use. Great for fences and from 1 story buildings ice pick can be attached to painters pole for that gathering horde.